Comparison Post: Cocoa Pink Strawberry Noel vs. Vampire's Lament

In comparison posts, I compare indie scents with similar notes lists. This allows me to cull my collection so that I have no repeats, and it may also be helpful for other people to decide which sounds most appealing.

The Contestants: 

Cocoa Pink Strawberry Noel (A perfectly balanced fresh strawberry that smells like real berries (not plasticy bubblegum strawberry), blended with VBN.)

Cocoa Pink Vampire's Lament (Luscious strawberry milkshake essence spiked with white amber, metallic white musk then finished off with a splash of creamy vanilla.)

How do they stack up? Strawberry Noel is very sweet, fruity in a fresh way, and a bit simple. It smells like you infused vanilla whipped cream with the essence of fresh macerated strawberries. Vampire's Lament smells exactly like strawberry ICE CREAM, which is missing from SN. It has a cold, creamy smell that is just exquisite. Less of a vanilla bean scent than in SN. VL also has a lot of musk and amber, which lend a more perfumey feel and make it feel a lot more sophisticated. SN is more of the type of scent a younger girl would favor, or maybe a good scent for a shampoo or bath product. It's very pretty, not synthetic or cheap-smelling, but less elegant. 

How similar are they? Not very similar at all! Besides having the basic foodie/berry notes in common, one smells like a lovely simple fruity lotion, and the other smells like a sort of sexy fruity, grown-up perfume. The strawberry in both is nice, but the strawberry in SN is very fresh, and the strawberry in VL is more like the flavor of strawberry ice cream.

Sillage: I have both in Cocoa Pink's EDP format, which is very high in sillage. Equally good.

Longevity: Ditto for above. Love Cocoa Pink's EDPs, they last forever.

Destashing any?: If I were to destash one, it would be Strawberry Noel. I like it enough to keep it for now, but I might destash if it gets no love come spring. I would definitely repurchase this in a hair or body product, though, as I feel it would be well-suited to that format. I do prefer Vampire's Lament as it's more sophisticated. 

Cocoa Pink Wildberry Cobbler Review

Brand: Cocoa Pink
Availability: General Catalog Autumn/Winter (N/A in Spring/Summer)
Notes: Freshly picked wildberries baked into a delicious warm cobbler topped with a generous dusting of confectioners sugar complete with a heaping scoop of vanilla bean ice cream

First impression out of bottle: Buttery gourmand with some dark purple fruit

Freshly applied: Purple berries overlaid on cakey sweetness. Reminds me of OHWTO Blackberry Buckle, which is very similar in its weird wateryness. (like it's not a full, rich scent, but watered down.) A bit more cake comes out, still predominantly a watery berry smell though. This is not super sweet or syrupy, which is what I would expect from a cobbler scent. If they had replicated the syrupy heavy feel of Blueberry Skies this would be perfect. Instead I get a 50/50 juicy berry and plain yellow cake type scent. Nice but a little subtle for me. I'm the queen of too-sweet gourmands. 

Drydown: Ah it gets a bit more syrupy and rich/spicy like Blueberry Skies. I get a dark feel like crystallized brown sugar on top of a cobbler, and rich dark berry juice. 

I don't get the vanilla ice cream though

After several hours: A little flat. I prefer Blueberry Skies over this for a berry-gourmand. It reminds me of OHWTO Blackberry Buckle which also goes flattish on me.

Longevity: High
Sillage: Medium

Would an [X] lover love this? Gourmand/berry lovers might enjoy it, but my skin chemistry didn't favor these notes.

Would an [X] hater love this? A gourmand hater probably wouldn't find anything extraordinary about this blend.

Where am I? Eating not-so-delicious cobbler at a friend's house, trying to be polite and complimentary

Where would I wear this? Daytime, if it were nicer and less flat maybe for special winter occasions or at night.